Contextual Related Posts is a powerful plugin for WordPress that allows you to display a list of related posts on your website and in your feed.

The list is based on the content of the title and/or content of the posts which makes them more relevant and more likely to be of interest to your readers. This allows you to retain visitors, reduce bounce rates and refresh old entries.

Contextual Related Posts is one of the most feature rich related posts plugins for WordPress with support for thumbnails, shortcodes, widgets, custom post types, caching and CSS styles.

What started as a simple piece of code by Mark Ghosh for his Weblog Tools Collection, has today evolved into a related posts plugin loved by thousands of users.

I have several plans for the plugin and over the next few months you will find several new features being added. If you’re looking for support regarding the plugin, as usual, make a post in the support forum.

Lastly, if you’re a user of this plugin and believe that it has been a valuable addition to your site, do consider a small donation. You can enter the amount you wish to donate.

Better Search replaces the default WordPress search engine with a more powerful search engine that gives search results relevant to the title and content of the post. This means that visitors to your blog will find will find what they are looking for quicker than if you didn’t have Better Search installed.

Better Search uses the same algorithm behind Contextual Related Posts to get your visitors to your WordPress blog highly relevant results.

New in Better Search v1.3

• Modified: Revamp of admin interface of the plugin
• Added: New option to activate BOOLEAN mode of mySQL FULLTEXT searching. Check the mySQL docs for further information on this
• Added: Custom post type support. Now choose what visitors are allowed to search
• Added: Links in the search heatmap are no-follow by default. You can turn this off in the Settings page
• Added: Option to make make heatmap links to open in a new window
• Added: Option to turn off the display of the heatmap on the results page
• Added: New CSS classes for heatmaps on the search results page – heatmap_daily and heatmap_overall
• Fixed: Possible cross-site request forgery issue in the Settings page

Download Better Search v1.3

Visit Better Search plugin page

Show “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed” links on your page. Much like Amazon.com’s product pages. The plugin tracks visitor movement across your site and gives you, as the blog owner, an insight on what visitors are clicking through. Your visitors are motivated to follow the links of others on your site.

v1.6 brings you a brand new admin interface, similar to those of my other plugins, tonnes of new options and customisation. It also fixes a critical security issue on the admin settings page.

If you have any questions on support requests, please do make a post in the support forums. I monitor these regularly and should be your first stop. If you’re using this plugin, do consider leaving a good review.

Changes in v1.6.0

• New: Redesigned admin interface
• New: More thumbnail options available including using timthumb to resize images
• New: Posts list is wrapped in a new class wherego_related which should be the primary method to style the list
• New: Option to add nofollow to links
• New: Option to open links in new window
• New: Limit the length of the title in the posts list
• New: Custom styles tab to quickly add CSS to style the output
• New: More display options. You can now choose to display the list of visited posts on home and archive pages
• New: Separate feed settings
• New: Option to exclude display of visited posts on select post/page IDs
• New: Option to exclude certain posts/page IDs from the visited posts
• Fixed: Plugin will no longer display Ajax error
• Fixed: Plugin will now work without errors with WP_DEBUG set to TRUE

- Download Where did they go from here from the WordPress repository
- Visit Where did they go from here homepage

Following quick on the heels of Contextual Related Posts v1.8.7, I’ve uploaded Top 10 v1.9.3 to the plugin repository.

Top 10 will count the number of page views on your single posts on a daily as well as overall basis. You can then display the page view count on individual posts and pages as well as display a list of most popular posts based on page views.

This is an important update that fixes a potential XSS vulnerability in the settings page plus some bug fixes. I’ve also added two new classes for styling the widgets.

If you’ve any questions please do use the support forums, as they are the best mode to receive support as I monitor them daily. If you’re a user of Top 10, do leave a good review for the plugin.

Changes in 1.9.3 and 1.9.4

• Important security update: Fixed possible XSS vulnerability
• Fixed: Exclude categories was not excluding posts correctly
• Added: Classes tptn_posts and tptn_posts_daily for the widgets that let you easily style the lists

I uploaded v1.8.7 of Contextual Related Posts to the WordPress.org repository.

Contextual Related Posts is a powerful plugin for WordPress that allows you to display a list of related posts on your website and in your feed.

This is a very important update and fixes a potential XSS issue with the settings screen. Highly recommended that you update to this version asap.

If you have any questions / bug reports, please post them in the WordPress support forums. I check these regularly. And, while you’re around there, why not write a good review for the plugin?

Contextual Related Posts is a powerful plugin for WordPress that allows you to display a list of related posts on your website and in your feed.

If you have any questions / bug reports, please post them in the WordPress support forums. I check these regularly. And, while you’re around there, why not write a good review for the plugin?

This version of Contextual Related Posts brings a much needed cache system, thanks to code from flynsarmy. Related posts will automatically be cached as visitors browse through your site. This is not enabled by default, but you can turn this on under “General options”.

The update also adds a new function get_crp_posts that returns the list of posts in an array. And, also a new shortcode [ crp ] (without the spaces) to display the related posts wherever you want within the content area.

As usual existing users of the plugin can update it directly from within the WordPress dashboard of your blog. If you’re not an existing user of CRP, why don’t you download it today and give it a test drive?

New in 1.8.6

• New: Related posts are now cached
• New: New function get_crp_posts to get only the list of posts in an array. Check the FAQ on how to use it.
• New: Timthumb will now resize images on wordpress.org, wordpress.com and wp.com. The latter two are useful if you’re running Jetpack
• New: Shortcode functionality. You can use the shortcode [ crp ] (without the spaces) to display the related posts. Check the FAQ for further details.
• Fixed: Exclude category option missed the last category in the list
• Fixed: Open links in new window option was not working

Download Contextual Related Posts

Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Sainsbury’s…

Dear Mrs. D’Souza,

Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behaviour and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. D’Souza, are listed below and are “documented by our video surveillance cameras”:

1. June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people’s carts when they weren’t looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5- minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women’s restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, ‘Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away’. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to reserve a bag of Maltesers.

6. August 14: Moved a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers they could come in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department – to which twenty children obliged.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’ Emergency Medics were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the Sports department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the Store suspiciously while loudly humming the ‘ Mission Impossible’ theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his ‘Madonna look’ by using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled ‘PICK ME! PICK ME!’

14. October 22: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed the fetal position and screamed ‘OH NO! IT’S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!

15. Took a box of condoms to the checkout clerk and asked where the fitting room was.

And last, but not least:

16. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, and then yelled very loudly, ‘Hey! There’s no toilet paper in here.’ One of the Staff passed out.

Image source: Stacey Harris [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I just pushed through an update to my utility plugin Add to All.

Add to All is a powerful plugin that will allow you to add custom code or CSS to your header, footer, content or feed. Add to All comes with out of the box support for Google Analytics, Statcounter, Kontera, with other third party services in the pipeline.

The main change to this version is the new Content options. This was mainly driven by my need to add Google Adsense before and after the content of the post without editing the theme. Besides Adsense, you can also add just about any HTML code in these boxes. Simple checkboxes will allow you to turn this on or off.

If you’re an existing user of Add to All, you should be able to update the plugin from within your admin area. Other users can follow the download link below.

If you’re using this plugin, do write a good review of the same. If you’re facing any issues, please open a new thread in the support forums.

Changes in 1.0.3

• Added: new section for adding text / HTML to content of a post
• Added: Enhanced link tracking for Google Analytics. View explanation
• Fixed: After content settings in feeds were not working
• Modified: Feed settings now work correctly in feed excerpts
• Fixed: Plugin should now work without giving errors with WP_DEBUG on

- Download Add to All
- Installation instructions

During my trip to Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye, I got a taste of the Scottish countryside and it was befitting that we visited the English countryside as well. A few of my regular readers might recall that I married Ashwina last February and to celebrate our anniversary, I took the week off from work.

Ashwina came up with the brilliant suggestion of taking a trip to Dunwich Heath which is located in Saxmundham which lies on the east coast of England. So, we made our way on Monday of this week via train from London to Darsham via Ipswich.

Darsham was the closest train station to Dunwich and when we reached there we were a bit surprised to see a very deserted station. The big taxi signs painted on the cafe in front of us were hard to resist and we ended up booking a taxi to take us to the Coastguard Cottages at Dunwich Heath.

We were at the cottages in around 15 minutes and the drive there was a teaser for the splendid view that was to come as we reached.

It was already starting to get dark and by the time we actually went down the sun had set. So we carefully made our way down to get a preliminary view of the cliff and the beach, whetting our appetite for the next day!

The cottage is a single room, self service but was well stocked with modern amenities.The only thing I missed there was the WiFi connection. But, then again, this was the purpose of the holiday.

We decided to take a walk down to the beach. When you think about beach you think of sun and sand, however Minsmere beach is a shale beach and though there was beautiful sunshine the temperature was below 10C. However, that didn’t stop us from putting down a mat and sitting by the beach watching the waves, the wind and a few birds.

It was a good thing we did it then, because a mist had set in after lunch time and the temperatures dropped still further forcing us to retire to the warmth of our little cottage room.

The next morning we decided to do one of the walking trails and initially set out for the shortest of the trails (I am not much of a walking guy). However, half way through we realised we were actually on the longest trail and decided to just finish it! I must admit that it was indeed a beautiful 3.8km to walk and the end of it I surprisingly had enough energy for more!

The last day of our visit involved still more walking. This time we decided to walk towards the Sizewell nuclear power stations. The walk took us along the RSPB Minsmere reserve which is beautiful place to visit if you are a bird watcher.

Overall this was a great holiday. I had mixed feelings returning to London on Friday morning. Sad to leave this place behind and glad to get back to life I am used to.

As I close this post, there is just one point that we came across a little known fact about Dunwich. The old town of Dunwich is now completely under water. And, as coastal erosion takes place, the coastguard cottages will be under water by 2070. And, there isn’t much we can do about it.

So, Ashwina and me planned a three day trip to visit Paris the week before Christmas. Paris is a little over two hours from London with the Eurostar and it is a comfortable trip from St. Pancras International to Gare du Nord.

We stayed at Hotel Le Petit Paris, which is just close to the Panthéon. We reached there late in the afternoon and being December, it was also starting to get dark. We went off to Montparnasse Tower and went up to the 59th floor to get a glimpse of the whole of Paris including a beautifully lit up Eiffel Tower!

After we had sunk in the Paris lights, since we weren’t ready to call it a night, Ashwina and me took a walk down the beautifully lit Champs-Élysées past the Christmas markets to finally reach the Arc de Triomphe. It’s a long long walk and if you’re as unfit as I am, then it feels even longer…

Post this we headed back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner at an Italian restaurant close to the hotel and then called it a night.

When we had visited Scotland back in September, we used to get up early in the morning. This time we decided to take it a bit easy and actually got out only at lunch time.

Remembering names of restaurants in Paris is definitely not my strong point, but we did manage to get a good lunch at one just opposite the Panthéon, which was our first museum visit. Ashwina tried her French skills to order the food while I nodded my head and pointed fingers at the menu

We completed the rest of the day with a close-up view of the Eiffel Tower, trip down the Seine, Notre Dame de Paris and the Louvre.

Like most tourists visiting the Louvre, the first place that we headed to was the Mona Lisa. And, we also came across the simply beautiful and super large painting of the Wedding at Cana.

On the last day of our Paris trip, we headed off to the Palace of Versailles, which should definitely be on the list of any visitor to France. The palace is grand and beautiful and is well known for its history. It has been well maintained over the past several years.

We returned to our hotel and had dinner once again at Kokonor, which is a small Tibetan restaurant with simply amazing food!

And, the next day we headed back to London to enjoy the rest of my vacation, which included midnight mass at Westminster Cathedral.

And, since then, it’s been all work!